Barely a month ago, her vigilantism was more or less being held responsible for driving JNU scholar Khurshid Anwar to suicide but even at that point the worst she faced was a media lashing led by Anwar’s friend, veteran editor Om Thanvi. This time, Madhu Kishwar has managed to rub a powerful media magnate the wrong way and his company hasn’t wasted time in sending her a legal notice for “defamation and slander”. Apparently the matter has to do with suspected money laundering and tax evasion to the tune of thousands of crores routed through offshore tax havens.
While Kishwar claims she’s “honoured” to receive the notice, she’s also “puzzled” why she was singled out for the courtesy and not Ram Jethmalani — who was the one who wrote to Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram accusing him of being the source of the alleged black money that found its way into the media company. We hear the matter first came to light while a senior I-T official was investigating suspected tax frauds by the media house, after which he was suspended on charges of sexual harassment and even declared insane by a High Court finding — both of which could subsequently not be proved. In his reply to Jethmalani’s letter, Chidambaram has dismissively noted that having regard for his “age” and the fact that they belonged to the “same fraternity” he was disinclined to take umbrage at the “outrageous allegations”. He however has agreed to have a “time bound” inquiry conducted into the matter by his subordinate — an offer which has failed to amuse Jethmalani. Brace for round two.
